Before our interview even started, Eva Clayton was already discussing ongoing issues, namely next week’s state Supreme Court hearing about the Leandro case.
“It’s part of who I am,” said Clayton.
The history-making lawmaker, nearly two decades after formally leaving public service, continues to speak out – whether it’s about education or rural development.
“I would like to see those schools do better because to the extent they do better, rural areas do better because when the talented ones are educated, they go away, they don’t come back. There’s nothing to employ them,” said Clayton.
Clayton grew up and attended schools during a time of segregation.
“I went to a school that received handout books that had been in the white schools. I went to a school that had no lunchroom. I interested that I had no lunch room and that a student from that ended up on the Agriculture Committee and being an advocate for lunch policy for the whole United States and then later UN for the whole world feeding people,” said Clayton, who credited the care and support of her teachers in aiding with her educational pursuits.